May 24-30, 2020

Weather | 5/24, 1.34" rain, 63°, 89° | 5/25, 0.03" rain, 64°, 84° | 5/26, 0.04" rain, 65°, 83° | 5/27, 0.21" rain, 67°, 77° | 5/28, 0.33" rain, 65°, 69° | 5/29, 53°, 69° | 5/30, 50°, 73° |

• Sunday, 5/24: Started sunny, but turned to strong thunderstorms in afternoon and evening. I put our largest AC into the west living room window, closed off all air leaks around it, squeezed in foam boards to block water intrusion from the outside, and old bedding foam between gaps in the sash window panes. Mary watered the garden and had a hummingbird hit her hat while she was in the near garden. She was getting ready to mow and I was about to start cleaning the next AC when we noticed dark clouds to the SW, checked weather radar, and put everything away. We could hear thunder at 3 pm, and rain, with heavy wind, hit at 4. It lasted until about 8. Saw 2 deer just out our west windows after the rain (see photo below and notice tall grass). They really scarf down tree leaves. One was defoliating a small tree when I opened the window and said, "Hey!" It didn't even notice me, so I gave it a Bronx cheer and boy, that spooked it. I saw 2 more deer halfway down our 1/4-mile driveway when I walked the dogs. We watched the 8th episode of The Vietnam War series.

One of 2 deer west of our house.

• Monday, Memorial Day, 5/25: The day started sunny, then small thunderstorms rolled through intermittently starting at 1:45. While walking dogs in the morning, we saw a crawdad in the lane (see photo below). This variety burrows into the mud and lives in its own hole. It doesn't live in lakes or streams. I took apart, washed out, assembled, and installed an AC into the east window of our bedroom, then sealed up around it. Mary made a turkey pot pie and did cleaning. We watched the 9th installment of The Vietnam War. Much more comfortable inside the house, now that 2 ACs are installed. Our driveway is a vast clover field with millions of white flowers full of honey and bumble bees.

Crawdad walking in our driveway.

• Tuesday, 5/26: It was sunny in the morning, but then we had a continuous supply of thunderstorms traveling SE to NW, which is a weird direction for here. Mary made chocolate chip cookies. She got a birthday card in the mail from my mother. When she didn't get embroidery scissors that she ordered, because they were lost in the mail, Amazon said she could reorder, which she did. The first pair finally did show up and now the reordered pair is on its way. Mary did all of the chores, since I was in the middle of cleaning and installing the 3rd AC into the north upstairs bedroom. It's an old Haier brand that we bought 10 years ago that's obviously built well. It was exceptionally dirty with bug and frog leather. Mary found a baby snapping turtle on the path to the far garden (see below). We finished the last installment of The Vietnam War. It's well worth seeing.

A baby snapping turtle.

• Wednesday, Mary's 54th birthday, 5/27: We were going to go fishing, but it started raining early and did it throughout the day, so we bummed around inside and celebrated Mary's birthday by watching a couple of happy movies (after days of Vietnam War, we needed something light and non-combative). I made waffles for our noontime meal, in the place of fish. Katie called while we were out doing evening chores. Bill called while Mary was trying to call Katie back. We jabbered with him for quite awhile. Katie called late. She had been to a restaurant with the person she's currently staying with and other friends. Grass is growing so tall in yards around the house that I'll soon be out there with a chainsaw to mow it!


• Thursday, 5/28: It was the same weather pattern that we've had for several days of cloudy to rain to clearing at night. Today, rain clouds traveled NE to SW and we were in a constant band of rain. Mary made 40 flour tortillas, followed by chimichangas. She did some cross stitching. I was an online bum all day. We saw the first fireflies of the season while on our evening walk.


• Friday, 5/29: It was sunny to partly cloudy. We had windows open all day. Went fishing in the morning. The bass were biting well. We threw back many more than we kept, which were 5 of the biggest ones (see photos below). I had good luck with a small light green plug that once belonged to Dad. Mary caught several on a Rapala Firestick. My last big bass gulped a Hulla Popper. I saw it lurking in the water below the lure, gave the popper a splash, and then it hit...what great fun! We watched 2 bald eagles diving at each other while we fished. While I filleted the fish, Mary picked lettuce for a salad. The meal was excellent. Dave Parmeter and I emailed back and forth about the class reunion, chicken coops, and other things. I'm not in favor of holding a class reunion this year and told him my thoughts, since he asked. Mary cross stitched for 2 hours. I picked a half a quart of red clover blossoms for a future wine. Fingers get really sticky while plucking the blossoms off clover flowers. A Boone County (Columbia, MO) resident unknowingly had coronavirus while attending the Lake of the Ozarks pool party that was on news across the nation. He was around so many people that authorities aren't even trying to contact them all...just post all the places he visited. Yup, we grows 'em smart raught hewa in Mussurah! Saw more fireflies on the last dog walk before bed.

Bass keepers from fishing at the Swim Pond.

The same bass in buckets.

Dinner of bass, garden salad, garlic toast, and pear wine.

• Saturday, 5/30: It was a cloudy day, but it cleared for the night. Mary saw a Baltimore oriole carrying a long piece of grass to weave into one of their hanging nests this morning. She cut garlic scapes, found a tiny bunny in the garlic bed, and chased a big rabbit out of the near garden. Mary harvested several pounds of radishes (see photo below). She also did some mowing, which she describes as hideous, since several rainy days produced hay fields out of our lawn. She also did cross stitching. I picked more clover blossom petals (see photo below) to use for making wine. It's an extremely tedious and time-consuming job, but it does give you time to see nature in miniature form. Clover is filled with tiny weevils and ants. Plus, several baby bunnies enjoy munching on it. Mary and I watched the launch of the SpaceX rocket via a live feed through space.com. It's the first U.S. manned spaceflight since 2011. The video footage showed the primary booster rocket landing safely on the recovery ship, which is really amazing. I remember the old Saturn V rockets blasting fire for several seconds before they lifted off the pad. This rocket lifted off almost immediately once the rocket fire erupted. And, the control center in California involved folding tables, huge computer displays and laptops. Technology is vastly improved from the days of Mission Control in Houston. I finished Patrick O'Brian's 10th novel, The Far Side of the World, which is vastly different than the 2003 movie by the same name. The enemy in the movie is the French, but in the book, the enemy is American during the War of 1812. In the movie, the HMS Surprise captures a French ship. In the book, after the heroes are stranded on a Pacific island with the American crew, the Surprise shows up and blasts a broadside into American sailors, who are trying to hack the British sailors to death. I guess you can't have British fighting Americans if you want box-office seats in the U.S.

Radish harvest.

A quart of red clover blossoms for wine.